I was responding to a comment by raloria on another post which got me looking through my archived emails about the past history of SPN cons regarding costs, etc.

I found it really interesting.  So for my geeky side here is a summary of what I found.

Disclaimers:

  :: This information is based partially on my archive of emails which will contain factual information but in addition I may include my own recollections of which I may or may not have actual records
  :: MOST IMPORTANT:   I am not posting this to bash on Creation.   Creation is a business and as such they will be making a profit.  I've talked with both Adam and Gary and I honestly believe that they started the business and continue the business because they are fanboy geeks themselves.  I *do* truly believe they want to provide a great experience for everyone.   Not everything always goes perfectly, but over the past 5 years that I've been attending these, I've experienced and observed improvements in delivery and organization.  I'm a project manager by profession and as such I've organized relatively minor events for projects.  Nothing on the scale of these cons.  And the events I've organized are a massive pain in the butt to organize and run.   I'm very impressed with how Creation is able to pull these off.   I'm sure that in addition to general cost increases over the 5 years, that the appearance cost for the Js has risen.     I'm posting this because I find it interesting and nostalgic.  Not to bash.

( one more thing.... )


History:  My first SPN con was the first LA Con in March 2008. This was the second ever Creation SPN con.  The first being in Chicago in November 2007.   And seeing the reports and ... um ... vids ... from the con made both Fickleone and I so envious of the fans who got to go.   So in December 2007, Fickleone & I decided to sign up for LA.  A short time before we had almost booked a flight to Dallas to see Jensen perform in AFGM, but decided it was too frivolous (*sigh* for miss opportunity). So when they announced a con in LA, we were all over it (despite our fear of being too old and out of place (again with the LOL).   We still thought we were being frivolous and were sure we would be out of place.  And that we were wasting money, etc.   But we figured we'd "do it just this one time."  (And how often has that been said across this fandon?)

Gold Tickets:  I have the original invoice for our 2 gold tickets for the LA 2008 con. Each ticket was $439 with S&H of $14.50 (which was REAL shipping back then as we got actual tickets in the mail.) For a total of $878 for two gold tickets. We had seats C25 and C26. The Vegas 2013 Gold Ticket price (on the website) was $559 (not including handling fee.)  So about a 27% increase in cost in 5 years. Somehow to me this doesn't seem too outrageous. I don't think it's the actual gold ticket price, but rather the decrease in what you now get with the gold ticket. For the first few cons I went to you got a REAL breakfast, all autographs, and a 30-min Jared panel, a 30-min Jensen Panel, and a 30-45min J2 panel. Not to mention the other guest panels. And for the first LA we got a Kripke panel! Little did we know that would be the only one.

In fact check this out!  I found it in an email notification for the LA 2008 con:


J2 Photo Op:  I also have the invoice for my first J2 photo op for LA 2008 - $149.00. The Vegas J2 photo op is $199. Which is 34% increase in cost in 5 years. My speculation is a lot of that cost increase is driven by a) Jensen's insistence after the first Vancon for Creation to keep the volume of the photo ops down to make it less crazy; and b) this is an ala carte item, and I believe Creation uses the ala carte items to make up any event and/or guest cost increases that have occurred over the past 5 years. So they didn't drastically increase the entry tickets, but instead increased the cost of ala carte experiences (and added more) as well as changed some previously included items into ala carte (as in some of the autographs.)
      EDIT:  Important to note that the J2 photo op went down from $219 (Vancon 2012) to $199 (Vegas 2013 & Vancon 2013).  

J Solo Photo Ops:  HOLY COW!  The J solo photo ops were SIXTY DOLLARS A PIECE!   $60!!!!   Seems like an absolute bargain now doesn't it? Today the J solo ops are $119 each. A 98% increase in cost in 5 years. 
      EDIT :: I think it's important to note that the cost of a J Solo Photo Op actually WENT DOWN from $129 to $119.  The Vancon 2012 J Solo Photo Op was $129.   The same ticket is $119 for both Vegas 2013 and Vancon 2013.

J Auto Tickets:   I do not have any actual record of how much the individual J auto ticket were at the first LA Con in 2008.   But I do remember that they had EXTRA J auto tickets (for both Jared & Jensen) available on the check in tables through most of the con.   Fickleone and I debated for awhile whether we wanted to spend that much more money on additional J auto tickets.  We thought it was a bit too much money to spend on extra auto tickets.   But we finally decided to buy one Jared and one Jensen each.  I'm pretty sure those tickets were about $20 each . !!!!   And since I do have a record that the solo J photo ops were $60 each, I believe my memory of the $20/ish price for the J auto tickets.   Edit:  I found my old LA 2008 schedule which said there were still individual J auto tickets available for $50 each.  And makes a bit more sense as to why Fickleone and I thought hard about buying 2 more each. /Edit   Plus - there were EXTRA lying in a pile on the tables.  I can still see the pile of tickets in my mind's eye.   And Fickleone and I thought we were being extravagant by spending an extra $40 $100 on more J auto tickets.   Oh, for those days.   The Vegas 2013 J auto ticket is $89.  Which if my math is correct (math is not my strong point), that's a 345% increase in 5 years.  So that would make a 78% increase in cost.  

I just found this embedded in one of the Creation LA 2008 emails.  These days I save these images from Creation's con sites as I know they will disappear later.  I didn't save this one back in the day.

I was curious to see if I could do ANYTHING with the really lousy photos I took at LA in 2008. I had this small, portable camera that was no where near adequate to take these kinds of photos. As I told my daughter the other day, I can do a lot with photos now, but one the things I cannot fix is blur. But I can compensate a bit for it.

So here are just two LA 2008 photos I messed with tonight. I found a few more I may be able to do something with. When or if I get the time. Tomorrow I need to actually go to bed at a decent hour as I've something kind of important to get to!

( a few photos under the cut... )

.

Finally.

Our scanner has been kinda dismantled for a while and I've been too busy, too tired, or too lazy to do anything about it.

Finally while over at my Mom's for Christmas today I took a few moments to scan my photoOps from the LA 2008 and Chicago 2008 conventions.  So for those of you who haven't seen photos or me in person--here's your lucky break!  (so called).  Well, just look at the boys.

---

The LA Con in March was my first and I was so NERVOUS going into the photoOps.  The only thing I can remember for sure is saying congratulations to Jared for his engagement to Sandy.  I was so much more nervous for the Jensen photo than for Jared.  But I was still very nervous overall. 






We're going to get a Malik photo in LA this coming March and maybe a Richard as well.  We've already purchased the J2, Jared, Jensen, and Misha photo-ops.

(And I'm still rooting for an Impala photoOp in Vancouver.)
 

We're toward's the beginning this time.  Waving directly at the camera.  Right after Jason asked if we're excited to see Jared and Jensen (duh!)

*grins*

Still famous!

Third day back at work after the LA Con.  First two days I was riding pretty high.  I swear I've never come back from a vacation feeling so refreshed and energized--despite having not enough sleep over the weekend!  fickleone is lobbying me to go to the Dallas Con and I am so, so tempted.  Folks at work say I should as well if my attitude and mood will show that kinda impact from the trip!  Although I've mentioned "The Show" at work before, my enthusiasm since my return had everyone saying that they had to check this show out!  My boss tried to watch last night--but I guess he doesn't get the CW. 

Still working through all my photos and stuff from the con.  Had fun last night renaming photos and photoshopping them a bit.  Assuming fickleone is feeling okay (bit of a cold), her and her family will be coming over on Saturday for a SPN Con viewing pizza party.  We figured it was the best way to get our mutual family members to perhaps pay attention and sit through a "here's what we did on our summer vacation" type of slide show.  We'll pizza and beer-them up and subject them to our manic obsession!  (hee!)

Okay if I did this correct this link should send you to Photobucket where I've uploaded a lot of my Jared and Jensen panel photos.  I still have more to load but this is a great deal of them.

fickleone and I are getting ready to leave for the airport.  I understand the brief photos I posted yesterday may not be accessible for download.  I plan on uploading all the photos to photobucket when I get home and decompress a bit.  I'll post as much as I can over the next few days.  But I think today will be relatively post free until at least late tonight.  I really, really need to absorb everything in my head.  So very much fun.  fickleone and I were up until late with some fellow fans and then more after they left our room.  We were punch-drunk with SPN love and extreme tiredness.   

I'm going to have to use missyjack's wiki to keep track of everything myself to remind myself of everything that happened this weekend.  And then Eyecon next week, then Dallas in June.  (I'm not going to either--but am really looking forward to seeing everyone else's reports on them.)

I wasn't able to fall asleep last night so I'm operating on only 2 hours of sleep right now. The only reason I'm not out like a light right now is that I have to go in 1 and a half hours to pick up my photos with the boys and I'm afraid if I fall asleep I'll be out until morning.

It was a fantastic day.  Starting with the boys at breakfast and Jared confirming that he and Sandy are engaged.  He proposed on January 28th, the 4th anniversary of their meeting.  They were in Paris, France at the time.  He had to propose in their hotel room because so many people were recognizing him that he didn't want the proposal to be photographed!  He said he would be at the Lourve (sp?) and people would be photographing him rather than looking at the Rembrandts!

Creation and the performers made several statements throughout the weekend about no video taping being allowed.  So what I have available is some photos, not all of which are in focus.

I just got back from seeing Sandy.  I almost didn't go down to see her talk because I was so tired.  But fickleone talked me into it.  I'm glad I did.  She was very, very adorable and cute. 

Sandy was terrific in her Q/A.  She was so nervous but did so well and the fans just loved her.  She offered to answer questions about Jared.  One person asked if he was a good kisser.  She said something like that was perhaps the one question she wasn't allowed to answer.  But then someone in the audience offered the answer "He doesn't suck."  And she latched on to that as her answer!  She obviously didn't mean he wasn't a good kisser--just that she didn't feel right about answering the question. 

We're on a short break from the activities.  We'll be going back done in about 30 minutes to see Steve Carlson perform.  Today was awesome.

I have great photos of Chad, Fred, and especially Kripke.  Kripke's Q/A session was terrific.  Among other things he answered questions about:

Kripke just rocks!  He was so great to listen to.  He answered questions about:
   - How the wee boys were cast in A Very SPN Christmas
   - Would Jared or Jensen ever be interested in directing
   - What about an SPN soundtrack?
   - How did the strike impact the myth arc storyline of S3?
   - What about Bela?
   - What about an SPN Movie?' 
   - The nature of Lilith
   - What he wanted to be when he grew up
   - His favorite curse word
   - What about a bodyswap episode?
   -  Does the lighting in the episodes mean anything?
  - Classic Rock
  - Ad libs
  - Jensen's audition tape--will it be in the season extras?  What will be in the season extras?
  - Is Ben Dean's kid?
  - Why did Dean's eye's bleed in Bloody Mary?
  - What's the meaning of the amulet?
  - What about Mary and her story?
  - What's his favorite scene in WIaWSNB






ETA:  Here are some links to transcripts of Kripke's Panel:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3